Spirit Wheel
Meditations From An Indigenous Elder
by Steven Charleston, and the second readings are from the Book of Matthew. Different sources, but a common theme. Steven Charleston is a retired Episcopal bishop, a citizen of the Choctaw Nation and a writer and poet of indigenous theological and cultural issues. Patricia and I often start our day with a reading from this book. We find his poetry eminently accessible, timely and spiritually uplifting and affirming.
Much of what I have to say today comes from another of his books The Four Vision Quests of Jesus, in which he talks about the spiritual journey common to indigenous peoples, and the spiritual quest of Jesus.
The gospel readings, all come from four different chapters found in the book of Matthew. Each one of the readings is an introduction to a critical point in the spiritual life of Jesus. Being that tomorrow is Indigenous Peoples Day I thought I might talk about the intersection of Native American and Christian beliefs.
A central part, if not the defining part, of Native American spiritual practice is the vision quest. The vision quest is the Native American process by which a person seeks for the holy. It is a universal undertaking, practiced across cultures and across time. In his book, Charleston described his own quest in which he embraced a traditional Native American practice of daily prayer. Climbing out onto the rooftop of his dormitory at Harvard Divinity School, he sprinkled a circle of corn meal around him, and stood there, alone in the early morning in all kinds of weather. He sought for answers, searched for a path that he could follow toward spiritual integrity.
He was a young man, a Native American, raised in the Presbyterian Church; both his great grandfather and his father were ordained pastors, and he was struggling to find a unity of his Native American and Christian beliefs and heritage.
He undertook this quest in the early 1970’s, a moment in time when an upwelling of Native American pride and anger toward the centuries of injustices suffered by his people were surging across the land. The Choctaw nation was the first of many nations to be bullied, cheated and run off their homeland. The Choctaws were made to walk from Alabama to Oklahoma, a distance of 500 to 700 miles. Thousands died so that the white man could have the fertile land for growing cotton. This forced removal was called The Trail of Tears, and although the Choctaws were a Christian people, other Christians turned the other way as the Choctaws were robbed and murdered.
Charleston expresses the belief that his people were sustained and survived because of their Christian faith: a faith that spoke of an Exodus, and God’s love for the dispossessed.
Are we not experiencing the same today with so many of God’s people fleeing evil, seeking sanctuary only to find themselves swept up off the streets and incarcerated or worse?
This conflict between the horrors experienced by his ancestors and the white man’s Christianity brought about a crisis of faith for the young Steven Charleston, as it did for so many other Native Americans. He wrote,”I did not have a firm center where it counted most, in my faith.” Doubt washed over him. And in response, he began his quest.
The spiritual quest In Native American religion has four essential elements, and they are: preparation, community, challenge and lament. These four elements are also embedded in quest myths in Western culture, and are central in the Gospel stories introduced in the four readings today.
Preparation for the Native American vision quest involves a cleansing, a purification, a getting ready for the quest. The quest is intentional. It is a planned movement toward the sacred. The person must be ready for this journey. There is always a spiritual prelude to the quest, a time of prayer and purification. These acts cleanse the person both physically and mentally, making him or her ready to come into the presence of the holy in a respectful way. Among the most common Native American practices of preparation is the sweat lodge, a form of communal worship and prayer. I believe some of you may have participated in this ritual yourselves.
In the Bible, Matthew tells us that Jesus was led into the wilderness by the spirit. He fasted for forty days and forty nights as he prepared for his encounters with, and temptations by, the devil. Matthew says “Jesus was hungry.”
The second element common to any Native American quest is the presence of others, the notion of community. Any man or woman setting out on a quest in the Native American tradition would have at least one other person and often a circle of family and friends helping them. These supporters would join in the rituals of purification. They provided prayer to sustain the good intentions of the quester. One or more would even accompany the person to the site chosen for the quest and remain nearby to help with ongoing prayers and songs.
This of course is strikingly familiar in much of the life of Jesus. His disciples accompany him, pray with him, walk the path with him all the way to his crucifixion. He was surrounded with friends who provided him with support. He did not travel the road to Calvary totally alone. Matthew begins the story of the Transfiguration by telling us that Jesus chose three of his disciples, Peter, James and John the brother of James to follow him up a high mountain where they witnessed Jesus’ face shine like the sun and his clothing become white as liquid as he encountered the Holy.
Having someone along for the quest is important because the quest is is a challenge, it is not for the faint of heart. It is not unknown for a traditional Native vision quest to last up to four days without food or water. During that time the person stays awake, remaining in one sacred space, usually a lonely place in the natural world where he or she is exposed to the elements. Here it is that the person comes face to face with the spiritual. The readings from Matthew tell us about Jesus going into the wilderness, the climbing the mountain, his struggle in the garden of Gethsemane and his crucifixion. Jesus had his friends by his side during his journey toward the cross, but he faced his moment of spiritual crisis and growth alone.
Charleston says the fourth aspect of the Native quest is difficult to translate from the original Native American language. He takes a stab at it and says that perhaps the best term for it would be a lament. In some Native languages, the quest is described as a time of “crying.”
The quest begins in a recognition that we are, all of us are, in need of help. We cry out to God for support and understanding. The quest is nurture. It is humility. It is not a test of how strong and brave a person can be, but rather, how vulnerable she or he can be. This is the defining nature of the quest because it brings one humble before God.
The lament is poignantly expressed in Matthew when Jesus cries out in a loud voice, “My God, my God why have you forsaken me?”
The quest changes the nature of the person, and readies the person for a deeper involvement in his or her community. Often the person who completes the quest is given a new name by the community in recognition of this fundamental change, the passing of the previous and the emergence of the new. Don’t we have the same story here in this church: Birth, Death, New Life and Jesus becoming the Christ.
The gift of the Native American vision quest is not just the paradigm of how one is to venture forth on such a quest, but also that the process of the quest is available to all. In Western cultures the quest has become more the domain of mystics, saints, knights of valor and fictional characters. In the Native American cultures the door is open to all and indeed all are expected to participate. The quest is seen as a necessary step for each member of the community to undertake in order to be properly assimilated into, and to be a fully functioning and contributing member of, the community. What is more, and I find this most interesting and relevant to us, the quest is not just for the young, old folks, can make their own quest, and indeed, many Native Americans make more that one quest in a lifetime.
Three important messages for today: the first being to honor those who have long inhabited this land, who stood right here where we are sitting today, long before our ancestors arrived on these shores and to honor their culture and their gifts to us.
Second, watch for those who are on their own quest and have changed as a result. Support and, honor them. This is especially important in these chaotic and challenging times.
Thirdly and most importantly, recognize that the quest is open to everyone here today. It is important that we support one another, be awake to our own quest, and fully participate in the challenge and the lament of our quest.
Bishop Charleston reminds us of these lessons in his poem,
“Scholar Of The Senses”.
and he writes:
For all the great thoughts I have read
For all the deep books I have studied
None has brought me nearer to Spirit
Than a walk beneath shimmering leaves
Golden red with the fire of autumn
When the air is crisp
And the Sun a pale eye, watching.
I am a scholar of the senses
A theologian of the tangible.
Spirit touches me and I touch Spirit
Each time I lift a leaf from my path
A thin flake of fire golden red
Still warm from the breath that made it.
Amen